


The Last Splash of Summer

by merry_amelie



Series: Academic Arcadia [191]
Category: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Genre: Alternate Reality, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-09
Updated: 2012-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merry_amelie/pseuds/merry_amelie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Our lads enjoy a swimmingly good time with Lelia at their town pool.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Splash of Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flamethrower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamethrower/gifts).



> Feedback: Is treasured at merryamelie@aol.com (or leave a comment).
> 
> Disclaimer: Mr. Lucas owns everything Star Wars. I'm not making any money.
> 
> For  
> My beta team: Nerowill, Emila-Wan, and Carol  
> Mali Wane for posting  
> My former betas: Alex, Ula, and Padawan Sue
> 
> Arcadian fun in the water:  
>   
> #21 -- [A Cruise for Two](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1798030)  
> #47 -- [Family Cruise](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1819465)  
> #82 -- [Arbor Lodge](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1907865)  
> #145 -- [Fourth and Maine](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4260111)  
> #147 -- [Wading In](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4276140)  
> #163 -- [Honeymoon at Moncale Bay](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4312149)  
> #175 -- [Independence Day at Lake Saasta](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4366031)  
>   
> To Flamethrower, with my congratulations on 10 years of her magnificent Re-Entry series

Lelia squealed as she barreled down the waterslide.  
  
The little girl swooshed into the pool, shouting merrily, and waved when she saw Quinn spotting her to the left of the slide. She was all giggles while her uncle hoisted her onto his shoulders.  
  
"Yay!" Lelia bounced in exuberance on her lofty perch. "Oh, Uncle Qui, this is so much fun!"  
  
Quinn squeezed her calves, currently dripping and dangling onto his chest. "I'm glad you're having a good time, little lassie."  
  
Ian swam up to them with a grin. "Looks like someone's enjoying herself," he teased.  
  
"I love Northland, Uncle Wan," Lelia chirped. Water darkened her ponytail to brown, a rare preview of her probable hair color as an adult.  
  
Northland Pool was about a mile from her uncles' home in Alder Run and was surrounded by grass and mature oak trees, which covered their beach blankets in cool green shade. Although there were two town pools in their borough, Lelia always asked to go here.  
  
The head lifeguard, on his own perch in the deep-water section, blew a whistle signalling the start of adult swim.  
  
Lelia pouted. "Don't wanna get out yet," she said sulkily.  
  
"Oh, darlin', it's only for half an hour," said Quinn, softly chiding. He started walking towards the steps in the shallow area for children. "Besides, you always have fun playing with Auntie Violet."  
  
"I like her a lot, Uncle Qui," Lelia said as she rode on his shoulders, giggling happily because she knew that she had the best seat in the pool.  
  
an swam a relaxed side-stroke beside them, enjoying the sight of his big husband carrying their little niece so serenely. Quinn was wearing the green trunks Ian had gotten him at the end-of-summer sale at Ric's Sporting Goods -- a perfect match for Ian's blue trunks -- while Lelia had on her ruffled tangerine swimsuit. But their grins easily eclipsed everything else. Quite a picture, that! He resolved to bring his waterproof camera along next time.  
  
A few of their friends waved at their procession with indulgent smiles on their faces. After all, Lelia was an adopted member of the neighborhood.  
  
Quinn knelt just before they reached the steps, allowing Lelia to scramble off, and their little party left the pool to meet Lelia's honorary Aunt Violet, who waved at them, an Ian McEwan paperback in hand. She looked resplendent in her blue pastel sundress, a yellow straw hat perched jauntily on her head. Their towels were by Violet's side, under a wizened oak tree.  
  
Their aqua shoes squelched on the poolside stone pavers until they reached their little haven on the grass. Lelia dried off and put on a white terrycloth robe over her bathing suit. She sprawled on a Star Wars beach towel, emblazoned with The Millennium Falcon, a present from her Uncle Wan. It lay right between Violet's more sedate aquamarine one and her uncles' cream bath-sheets.  
  
Violet, with no grandchildren of her own, looked forward to these trips to Northland with her friends. She doted on Lelia almost as much as Jo and Ginny did.  
  
Unfortunately, Lelia did not have a second 'auntie' in their neighborhood. Violet's efforts to thaw Prudence's frozen heart had not been successful. The best she could get from her housemate so far was that the professors were "not quite what she had expected, after all."  
  
As the two proud uncles headed back to the pool for the start of adult swim, they heard Violet ask, "How about a game of Mille Bornes?" and Lelia's eager "Okay!"  
  
Sharing a smile, they ambled over to the deep section, where they dove in and did laps while they didn't have to dodge children to do so. The vibe had gone from chaotic to peaceful in the space of a few moments.  
  
If there had been fewer adults in the pool, Quinn would have suggested a race. He was still on an Olympic high, after watching so much swimming during the Games last month. But a Saturday afternoon in early September had a way of attracting a lot of swimmers, especially with the prospect of the pool closing for the year after Labor Day. Nor did it hurt that this was a beautiful sunny day.  
  
So Quinn settled into the rhythm of the breast-stroke, content to watch Ian pacing him to his left. The sun dazzled his eyes as it glared off the rippling water surrounding him. Then he flipped over for a leisurely few laps of the backstroke, which he saved for adult swim, because it was hard to navigate among the rambunctious children otherwise.  
  
Groups of parents stood in the water chatting together or lounging on the steps. Kids sat by the poolside sporfling and playing with each other, waiting for the lifeguard to blow his whistle again for open season on the swimming pool.  
  
Many of the neighborhood moms and dads didn't take to the water as much as their children did, so the pool cleared out substantially towards the end of the adult swim period.  
  
Quinn and Ian decided to take advantage of the relatively empty pool and get a few races in before the children returned to the water. They went for it with their usual gusto, keeping well clear of the other swimmers. Ian pulled slightly ahead in the 'medal count', but in their last race, they both touched the wall in a dead heat.  
  
A few feet away, Hugh Panaco, the head lifeguard, gave them a rare on-duty grin and said, "Man, you guys are our very own Olympians. Michael and Ryan had better watch out!"  
  
After what seemed like five years to Lelia -- but only five minutes to Ian and Quinn -- the sound of the whistle shrilled in the air. She lined up with the other children as they walked to the edge of the pool and slid in, with her Uncle Wan right there waiting for her.  
  
All of a sudden, the pool was alive once again with paddling, kicking, shouting youngsters. And they were even more enthusiastic than before, having been deprived of the pleasures of splashing about for the duration of adult swim.  
  
Quinn and Ian played with Lelia in the shallows and indulged her in her favorite activities. She particularly enjoyed grabbing Ian's hands and kicking her legs when swimming in place. This way, she got to look up into his laughing eyes and grin while they cavorted together.  
  
One of the other things Lelia liked best was hanging on her Uncle Qui while he streamed through the water, just as she had right before the start of adult swim. But that had lasted only a minute or two, not nearly enough time for Lelia. Piggyback rides were fun on land, but even better with water droplets tickling her feet at each of her uncle's steps.  
  
They stayed inside for another half an hour, until Lelia was all swum out and their skins made prunes look as smooth as plums once more. When they had dried again, Ian and Quinn put on their Luke t-shirts, while Lelia belted her beach robe. Then they headed over to the snack bar with Violet, who had only been dragged into the water once by Lelia and was much happier on dry land, thank you very much.  
  
Happy to see that Lelia chose the pizza instead of the frozen Milky Way bar she'd pleaded for last week, Ian paid for four slices, as well as fruit juices for them all. Pizza at Northland had a smoky crust that made it the best in all of Alder Run.  
  
The adults let Lelia choose a picnic table in the shade, and Quinn was reminded of their adventures at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival on the Fourth of July, especially Ian poaching the cinnamon-crumb crust of his apple pie shamelessly. The holidays made entertaining bookends of the summer vacation season.  
  
When they finished eating, Violet took Lelia to the ladies' room, while Quinn and Ian stretched their legs out under the picnic table. Finally all but alone, their nearest neighbors several yards away, Ian darted up for a kiss.  
  
"Mmmmm," rumbled Quinn. "Well, that was the highlight of my day."  
  
"Not the swimming?" Ian teased.  
  
"Not even close," Quinn drawled back.  
  
The grin on Ian's face rivalled the afternoon sun for warmth. "I've had a great time this summer, ma herven. What's on tap for next year?"  
  
The crinkles surrounding Quinn's eyes deepened. "My folks have been talking about a family vacation in June. Dad's always asking about our trip to Quebec, so maybe we'll go to Canada."  
  
"How 'bout visiting the Ottawa Gung-ho Water Park?" Ian chuckled at the name, tickled by its similarity to a certain Gungan city.  
  
"Sounds like there are fellow Star Wars fans across the border," said Quinn, playing along with his laddie, which he could never resist.  
  
"Not even a groan for me?" Ian asked in comic affront.  
  
"We'll have to save that for later," Quinn said, his eyes twinkling merrily.  
  
Both of them couldn't wait.


End file.
